An Understanding Love
by Sulia Shincho
Summary: It's been eight years since Relena's seen Heero and now she gets to stay with him after her life had been threatened by a persistent stalker. However, the reunion is not what she expected.
1. A Situation

An Understanding Love

**Okay, a new story of mine. **

**Warning; OCs, they're there to keep the story moving and to cause conflicts, nothing more.**

**Also, before I'm asked, David Willington II is not an OC (at least not completely). If you watch episode two of ****Mobile**** Suite Gundam Wing, the blond boy who fenced against Heero is David, I just gave him the name since he had none in the series. So, technically, he's not an OC.**

"We have achieved and maintained peace for twelve years since the Christmas Rebellion, and we have survived without the use of mobile suites of any kind. The introduction of the Labor Suites may provoke hostility from both the Earth and the Space. As for the laborers, if the government can help provide the correct training, we could give these workers careers in space construction. Having spoken to several workers myself, they have assured me that if training was provided, they would earnestly take up another career," Relena explained, concluding her speech to the representatives of colony L-4S2990.

It was amazing to know that even after thirteen years of officially being the new Vice Foreign Minister, that some issues were still left unresolved, such as what to do with the remaining mobile suite manufacturing plants on Earth, as well as in the colonies.

There were many who thought to destroy the plants and to build new business buildings or apartment complexes. Those people who thought this way were mostly the politicians who didn't take into account of the many workers still employed at the plants, erasing the years of compiled mobile suite plans, programming, and research, as well as hunting out and reporting any illegal scrapes of mobile suites that the Preventers may have missed..

Relena wasn't among the politicians out to destroy the factories; she had gone and spoken to the labors at the plants to get an idea how many other jobs would be available to them. Not many apparently.

Without the need to make armaments, the workers were left basically with very limited jobs in limited fields. Sure, some could learn an entirely new career or try to find one similar but with a lot less pay.

Taking all of these factors into account, Relena had decided to propose to both Earth and the Colonies that if the plants were to be destroyed then to provide the workers with some other means by which to make a livelihood.

There was also the option to have these plants manufacture new mobile suite called Labor Suites, recently proposed by the representative of Russia. The mobile suites from the Eves' war that had yet to be destroyed would be reformatted so that they could be used to help in heavy labor on both Earth and, most especially, in the Colonies. Only this time, there would be no weapons built in or for the mobile suites.

Not very keen on the idea, Relena presented an alternative idea to the colonial representatives, repeatedly telling them that it was Russia's representative's idea for Labor Suites, not Earth's. Even her grandfather, Marquis Weridge, tried to persuade the representatives on Earth that there was no need for any mobile suites of any sort. Whether it be for labor or not.

It wasn't working out very well and the Colonies weren't very optimistic about the prospect either, much to Relena's relief.

"Take your time to review the proposal and call me when you have come to a decision. Thank you gentlemen for your time," Relena concluded her speech.

Stepping down from the platform to the protective arms of David Willington II, Relena heaved a sigh of relief. Her speech was over with and that was all that mattered, for the moment.

"You okay?" David whispered in Relena's ear as he escorted her to her seat.

"I'm fine," Relena assured, sitting down for the concluding speech.

"If you say so," David shrugged, moving off toward the nearest exit, to speak into his sleeve microphone.

Sitting up tall although the conference hurt her back, Relena listened intently to the closing speeches made by her rival, Dorothy Catalonia. It had not surprised Relena to find Dorothy in politics or to be representing the opposite opinions of Relena.

"This concludes the meeting of colony L-4S2990, next week we shall discuss this matter further," stated Representative Norwood, replacing Dorothy's place at the podium.

Gathering her coat and bag of notes, Relena headed toward David when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Turning around, Relena came face to face with Dorothy, the first time in five years.

"Dorothy," Relena acknowledged with a welcomed smile.

"Ms. Relena," returned Dorothy, "it's good to see you again after all these years. How's life?"

"Busy," Relena replied with a tired smile. "How about you and…"

"William, its William Gussenburg now. He's well, he's watching our little boy while I'm here touring the space colonies for political reasons," she answered positively.

It was common knowledge for anyone who read the papers that William Gussenburg was Dorothy's third husband in six years, and she had two children; one for her current marriage and the other from husband number two. Relena was a bit envious of Dorothy, but refused to let it show visibly.

"What about you? Any man that the newspapers and tabloids don't know about yet?" Dorothy winked suggestively.

Most people had assumed that Ms. Relena Darlian would have been married and with child by the age of 25, yet she stood as a very single woman of 28 years. How different reality was from the expectations of others.

"No," Relena responded automatically. It had become almost second nature to Relena to answer 'no' to any question dealing with her love-life.

"Oh…" Dorothy was about to say more but she noticed a tall, blond man approaching them in a dress down Preventers uniform.

"Pardon Ms. Darlian, but Pagan awaits you with the car," David informed his charge with only the barest of glances at Dorothy.

"Thank you David," Relena nodded before turning her attention back to her old friend and rival, "will you walk with me, Dorothy?"

Still eyeing David as he moved to the exit, Dorothy nodded, "I would like to very much. Parker, tell Roger to have the car waiting out front." A bald man in a navy suit who had been stationed behind Dorothy the entire time stepped backward.

"Yes ma'am," he nodded, he was obviously Dorothy's private bodyguard as he was not attired in any form of Preventer uniform.

"Lead on," Dorothy smiled, gesturing for Relena to take the lead.

Taking the offered role of leader, Relena went to the door, held open by David which she thanked him for, and continued down the hallway to the stairs. As a politician, Relena absolutely refused to take elevators, especially after one hostage incident ten years ago.

_At least Wufei had been able to take control of the situation with the help of Heero…_ Relena thought.

"Who's the lap dog?" Dorothy whispered, having caught up to Relena. When the Vice Foreign Minister gave her a questioning expression, Dorothy discreetly gestured toward David.

"Oh…David Willington II, an old classmate, now my head of security," Relena answered, throwing a backward glance at David. He was to busy glancing around for the other Preventers roaming about to notice Relena's glance.

"He's cute, are you two…?" Dorothy trailed suggestively as they traveled down the escalator.

No longer the innocent, naive 15 year old, Relena knew Dorothy's meaning. Ever since Heero had left the Preventers eight years before, several people in and out of the media who wished to know Relena's love life. Such as who was she seeing, was she seeing anyone, who was this person, why was she seen with this representative or minister? It was truly annoying.

"No," she answered, stepping off the escalator, "he's only my friend and bodyguard."

"With benefits," added Dorothy with a wink.

Relena sighed, no one could take a simple, straightforward answer anymore without saying or thinking that there was still something more beyond what they saw or were told.

Opening her mouth to reply, Relena felt someone wrap an arm around her waist and yank her away. It all happened so fast that Relena hadn't quite realized what was going on until she felt the cold barrel of a semi-automatic at her right temple.

_Not again,_ was Relena's first thought. This was the third hostage situation she had found herself in within the last year, and Relena was starting to feel a bit numb to it all, but not numb enough to not realize that the person could still potentially kill her.

"Listen up, don't anyone try anything or the Vice Foreign Minister gets it!" an enraged yet hesitant voice announced.

Feeling her legs tremble slightly, Relena took a few deep breaths to compose herself; this was _not_ the time to panic. Also, it seemed that this was no random hostage situation as person holding her captive knew exactly who she was.

Instinctively, any Preventer in the area reached for his or her Colt 45 to aim at the terrorist.

David was the first to speak, without his Colt 45 drawn. "Don't shoot, you might hit Ms. Darlian!" he yelled to the other Preventers, taking a few steps forward.

Hesitantly, the Preventers lowered their weapons, allowing David to open up negotiations.

"Hey, what's your name?" David asked, holding up his empty hands for the person to see that he had nothing on him at the time.

"Don't give me that shit!" the man shouted, waving the gun dangerously, making Relena uneasy that he might accidentally shoot someone. The man had no experience in taking someone hostage apparently.

"What is it that you want?" Relena muttered, she didn't wish for the man to shoot anyone, intentionally or unintentionally. Plus, she wished to have the situation taken care of as quickly as possible, with no causalities.

"Shut up you," he growled in her ear, "it's all because of your little proposition that I'm even doing this. You want peace still Minister Darlian?" Relena nodded. "Then keep all mobile suites out of this world!"

"I'm trying, but these things take time. People need time to deliberate the issue before passing judgment," she reasoned with him in a soft, calm voice.

The man put the gun back to her temple, jabbing it into her skin roughly. "Shut up you, just shut up!"

"Relena," David interjected, "keep quiet for now."

"You too, shut up!" the man barked, pressing the butt of the gun to his forehead. Relena felt the guy begin to shake a bit and heard slight sniffles as though he were crying. "My little girl was killed by one of those damned machines." His spoke with a softened, somber tone that invoked the sympathies of anyone who heard him.

"How old was she?" David gently inquired, now they were getting somewhere, some information about the no-named man.

"Eighteen, a newly turned adult and she had to go into the military when OZ was recruiting for its space forces. She died at the lunar plant," explained the man, tearing up at the corners of his eyes before they turned cold. "Now, _she's_," he gestured with his gun to Relena, "unable to prevent it from ever happening again!"

Keeping her eyes on David, Relena waited for him to make his move, any move that he had been planning while standing there with his hands out in the open so that the man would feel less threatened.

"Listen, no one has to get hurt, just put the gun down. Nice and slow," David assured.

The man gave him a mocking glare. "How stupid do you suppose I am? I was a negotiator for this colony at one time, so don't give me that bull shit!"

Putting down his hands, slowly, David then asked, "Okay, what are your demands?"

"Ms. Darlian in exchange for the vote against mobile suite labor," the man bargained.

"How much time do we have?" David questioned.

"One hour and use that hour wisely, or the Vice Foreign Minister might find her picture on the front page for a _bloody_ reason."

_Heero…_


	2. A Stalker

An Understanding Love

**Okay, a new story of mine. **

**Warning; OCs, they're there to keep the story moving and to cause conflicts, nothing more.**

It had been one of the _longest_ hours of Relena's life, other than the hour she waited when she was 12 waiting for her father to come home after a terrorists attack. She stood by the terrorist man, Dwain Richards, as he had eventually informed Relena while they made very small talk and waited.

Relena could see that Dwain was worn out, emotionally, as he would sometimes slump against her back for a second before recalling himself to his whereabouts. Half the time Dwain would just talk to Relena about miscellaneous subjects that the common person would know about, such as actors, music, or even home life.

"Why haven't you married?" Dwain inquired softly, he was once again slumped against Relena's back.

"I don't know. Not enough time to actually have a serious relationship, or a relationship at all," she shrugged, maintaining a composed expression. She didn't wish anyone to play the hero and come at Dwain while he was resting a bit only to spook him and be shot.

"There's always time if you use the time in the day given to you, and as long as you make an effort," Dwain mumbled, straightening again for a moment to look at the conference room door to see if the representatives and David had come out.

"I would first need to like someone enough to want to try to have a relationship with him," Relena pointed out.

Resting his chin on Relena's shoulder, Dwain whispered, "I was under the impression that you already liked someone in such a way."

Smiling a bit, Relena shook her head. "I do but I haven't seen him in years and I have no idea if he even returns any of my feelings," she explained, shutting up quickly at the same time Dwain stood up, alert.

David came out of the conference room, rolling in a television that was on, broadcasting footage from the five o'clock news.

There, on the screen, Relena watched as Representative Dimmesgale made a speech of the colony's decision to not support the labor suites proposal. It shocked Relena that they, especially David and Dorothy, had yielded to Dwain's demands so willingly.

Immediately after the speech was made, David clicked off the television, not even waiting to hear the voice of the news broadcaster.

"There, we gave into your demands, now release Ms. Darlian," David stated in a business-like manner.

Stunned that his plan had actually worked in his favor, Dwain released Relena and gave her a little shove toward David, a smile of utter shock and relief slowly spreading across his features.

Quickly, David grabbed Relena's elbow and led her away, whispering, "No matter what, don't look back. Just keep going forward, we don't need you getting held hostage ag…"

The sound of a gun shoot rang through the air, interrupting David, causing him and Relena to whirl around. There, on the ground, with his gun three feet from his body was the limb form of Dwain Richards, soaked in crimson. Standing over him was another Preventer with his weapon dangling on his finger tips.

"H-he tried to kill me," the Preventer reasoned as the nearby Preventers moved to push away the shooter and examine Dwain's body. The building's medical doctor came rushing onto the scene, pushing her way through the Preventers to her patient.

Relena stood staring at where she had seen the body of Dwain Richards-negotiator, father of two, grandfather of four, husband, and son-lie. She just couldn't believe that he was now dead in a pool of his own blood when just seconds before he had been holding onto her loosely and before that speaking with her as he rested against her.

"Ms. Darlian?" David spoke up, noticing how pale his charge had gotten. "Are you alright? Would you like me to get a doctor?"

"It shouldn't have ended like this," was all she said before going over to sit on the stairs. Police questioning was going to take a while, as well as Preventer interrogation.

"Relena," Dorothy began as she sat next to her friend and rival, "I guess he realized our trick."

Burying her head in her hands for a moment, Relena composed herself. She refused to break down there, her tears and emotions would have to wait for another time. "What trick?"

Leaning in, Dorothy whispered, "The broadcast was only a tape, Miss Relena. One that we had recorded in the hour he gave us."

With surprised eyes, Relena lifted her eyes to Dorothy's. She couldn't believe that representatives had thought to deceive Dwain, and even more so, that it had worked.

As though reading Relena's thoughts, Dorothy quickly told her, "It was David's suggestion and the representatives went along with it, as it was the only plan of action that was suggested that wouldn't endanger you."

"Unless Dwain had realized he was begin tricked while I was still his hostage." Relena shook her head saying, "This should never have happened."

"He was mad with grief, Miss Relena, he could have killed you," persisted Dorothy calmly. "But you're right, _this_ shouldn't have happened."

* * *

It was well after midnight when Relena and David got to the hotel. David escorted his charge to her room where Duo Maxwell with his trademark grin stood in the hall ready to take up the responsibility of watching Relena for the rest of the night.

"Room checked?" David asked.

Duo nodded, a bit stiffly, and his grin faltered for a moment.

Relena didn't know the whole ordeal but after Heero had quit as her Head of Security, Duo was appointed the position temporarily. That was until three years ago, when David was assigned Relena as his charge, Lady Une handed Duo's position to David, much to Duo's displeasure. It wasn't a subject spoken of but it had left a lot of tension between the two men.

"Good night, Ms. Darlian, and try to get some sleep," David instructed before taking his leave.

"Are you _really_ going to be okay, princess?" Duo inquired when David had entered the 'Preventers' Hotel Headquarters', which was adjoined to Relena's room. "I saw what happened on the news and I'm sorry I wasn't there."

"It's okay Duo, I just wish that it could have turned out differently for Dwain," nodded Relena, massaging her eyes. "It's been a long day Duo, and I still have a lot of paperwork to go through. I would like to get _some_ rest tonight."

Duo nodded in agreement, opening the door for Relena. "Undoubtedly, more than those three hours you normally get."

She smiled at his observation while moving into the room, past her bodyguard. "Good night Duo."

"Good _morning_, princess," corrected Duo with a charming smile.

Returning the smile briefly, Relena closed the door and sighed. It had been such a long, emotionally exhausting night for her and everyone else.

"What a day," she groaned, shuffling to her dresser, setting down a stack of files on her bed as she went. Opening up her pajama draw, Relena pulled out a pair of black sweat pants and an old, plain white shirt. Relena didn't believe in wearing any "sexy" pajamas as she rarely got to sleep, so everything was simple and comfortable.

Closing the room's curtains, Relena changed quickly then set up her work area on the coffee table and couch. Plopping herself onto the couch, crossing her legs so that her feet were squashed between the cushions and her thighs.

Picking up her reading glasses from the night stand between the bed and couch, Relena slid them on and braced herself to review the many proposals, negotiations, and suggestions from Earth and the Colonies. It was a tiring job but it had to be done.

Opening the first file, Relena was not greeted by the formal proposal she expected; it was something worse. Slamming the file closed and jumping off the couch, Relena ran for the door.

Throwing the door open, Relena startled the unsuspecting Duo who had been amusing himself playing cat's cradle.

"Duo, there's a new one," Relena simply stated, as calmly as she could, but her slight trembling and slightly fear-stricken tone gave her true disposition away.

"Shit," Duo muttered, unhooking his walkie-talkie and holding down the buttons. "Preventers, the stalker has been in Ms. Darlian's room and left another note!"

There was a period of silence before someone replied. "This is David, I have sight of someone and I'm going to engage pursuit."

"David, don't be stupid this is the second floor. Send Reynolds out or Johnson!" Duo ordered him but there was another moment of silence. "Reynolds, Johnson, can you confirm sight of suspect?"

"Visible is poor due to this blasted fog," Reynolds reported.

"He's must be out of the hotel area because I haven't seen anyone, including Willington," Johnson reported.

"David, report!" Duo commanded.

There was some static as David's panting voice came in. "I'm in pursuit of suspect down K.K.G. The bastard is trying to lose me!"

"Stay with him," Duo ordered, putting his walkie-talkie away. "Damn David, he just had to jump off the balcony to pursue the guy." Turning his attention back to Relena and entered the room, asking, "Where's the note this time? I know I had checked everywhere imaginable this time, I was certain. I even checked your underwear draw and inside your shoes!"

Ignoring the part about her underwear draw, Relena answered, "It wasn't necessarily in the room as it was in one of my files."

Duo went over to the couch and picked up the one file lying on it. Opening it up, Duo found the said note.

"Another letter, I'll go report this. Blast it all, I could've sworn that we had caught this creep," Duo growled, looking at the note. "Did you read this at all?"

"No. Why?" Relena questioned, hugging herself.

"He was at the conference."

Taking the letter, Relena read it aloud, "'Such a display today minister, it was so dramatic and yet beautiful. Fear can bring out so much in a person, for you, it made you more beautiful as you were held against your will. So vulnerable; so helpless; with no Heero to save you from that barrel at your temple. I shiver at the memory.' Oh God…"

Duo grabbed Relena by the shoulders and shook her a bit. "Relena this is serious, this is the-what?-twentieth letter you've received since announcing that this was your last year before retiring!"

"I know, but so far this person hasn't _done_ anything directly to me, yet," Relena protested, she didn't wish to spend her last four months hiding in fear of some unknown person who left letters that would constantly point out the fact that Heero was no longer in her life and how this stalker was.

"No, only stalk you; leave notes for _you_ and one time threaten you. Of course, this guy's not a _threat_ to you," Duo spat, his sarcasm excessively noticeable.

Relena sighed, handing Duo the letter. "Go report this, but I'm going not going to put my life on hold or hide in fear because of this. My term is almost over and I plan on continuing to give as much help as I can before I'm gone. This guy's letters are not going to stop me from doing my job."

Duo sighed, "As you say…I'm just worried about you princess, we all are. Even her ladyship has suggested putting you under a witness protection program of some form for a while until we have found this creep."

"She knows that I would refuse," Relena stated.

"That's exactly why Une hasn't suggested that option to you yet. However, if this keeps up Relena, we may just have to put you under witness protection, or have you resign earlier than expected," Duo explained seriously.

In contemplation, Relena gnawed at her lower lip until Duo patted her shoulder.

"I better go report this," he said, going over to the door that adjoined the two rooms.

"Duo," Relena called out, "do you honestly think that if I resigned these notes would go away? This guy isn't after anything that I do politically; he has been targeting me as a person and my emotions since day one. If I left politics whose to say that he won't still stalk me as I try to live a normal life outside the political arena?"

Not knowing what to say, Duo opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before a sound was heard from the walkie talkie.

"This is David, I've lost him. I lost him somewhere between Drexel Drive and McGrath Street. Damn it!"

Keeping his eyes on Relena, Duo brought the walkie talkie to his mouth and ordered, "Return to HQ David, we'll get him next time, let's just keep Ms. Darlian safe for the rest of the night and during the day tomorrow."

"Ten-four."

"We're going to catch this bastard, Relena, even if we have to use unethical means of doing so," promised Duo, opening the door and going into the Preventers' room.

**Thank you to: Duck3, Lil Dev G, wantinlife, Hououza, Ulitheal, WolfCry17, EquineAngel, k, WindCloud, Morrighan of Crimson and Sable, Lynn-Minmay, and DR.M.**

**Wow…I'm in shock right now. I didn't expect to get 12 reviews for the first chapter alone. Pardon me while I faint now. Whoa… Oh, sorry about the cliffhanger in the last chapter but I needed a place to start for this chapter. Catch you guys next time!**


	3. Explosive

An Understanding Love

David entered the Preventer Hotel Headquarters with a scowl on his face; he seemed to be displeased with something. He slammed the door closed and glared at Duo, confirming Duo's suspicions of his superior being in foul mood. However, David was not displeased but rather peeved.

Shutting off the video-phone monitor, Duo got up to be able to defend any attacks David might throw at him.

"Why the hell is Johnson at _your_ post? I gave you no order to have him take over your position," David stated, his tone seething with malice.

"Well, last time I had checked, you were off chasing this stalker creep, despite my distinctive order for you to send Reynolds or Johnson…" Duo defended but was interrupted.

"The guy was heading out back, Duo. Plus, with this fog, you know as well as I do that Johnson was as blind as a bat, especially without night vision binoculars. Then Reynolds was out front, wandering about like a headless chicken. What the hell was I supposed to do? Let the guy go until next time?"

Duo could not deny the truth in David's words but it was still irresponsible and irrational of David to chase the guy alone. And Duo was going to defend that stance!

"Next time, direct Reynolds, you're only human and the next time you might not come away unharmed," warned Duo, moving toward the adjoining doors. "I've already reported this to Lady Une."

Quickly David intercepted Duo at the door and grabbed the shorter pilot's shoulder. "I'm the Head of Security now, _Maxwell_! I'm to make the reports to Une, not you. Commit that to memory from here on out," advised the blond Preventer.

"Yes sir," growled Duo, not wishing for a fight but desperately wanting to fracture his superior's jaw. "You have made that unmistakably clear. However, might I suggest that perhaps you should start acting like the Head of Security if you're going to keep calling yourself _that_? Like Heero…"

Duo had not expected David to really react, so when he shoved the braided Preventer against the wall, Duo was shocked. He almost instinctively kicked David off of him, but held back as he recalled where and whom he was "speaking" with. Confounded Preventer codes and rules!

"Like Heero? Why must I always be compared to him? Did he set the standard for my position or something? Was he the "expert" of Head of Security?"

"Yeah," Duo replied calmly, half answering to spite David, "and you're falling short of the standard."

Letting Duo go, David shrugged, "Then I suppose I should desert, like he did."

That was it! Duo's fist connected with David's jaw, causing a cracking sound that was rather satisfying to Duo's ears. He had finally been able to live out his career fantasy. How many people could say they had punched their superior?

Taking a few deep breathes, Duo calmed himself from the adrenaline rush moment only to come to the conclusion that his action was immature and stupid. _Oh well, screw the codes and rule book!_

"Good night, Willington," Duo grunted, opening the adjoining door then, unconsciously, slamming it behind him. Falling back against the door, Duo sighed in frustration and exasperation.

"Another argument?" sounded Relena's voice from the couch. Looking up, Duo found her sitting on the furniture with a file on her lap; obviously she was going to be doing more work and less sleep again.

"It's that jerk's fault," Duo claimed, pushing himself off the door and heading over to the curtained window. "I still don't understand why you haven't complained to Lady Une about him yet."

Relena tipped her glasses down and stared at Duo for a moment over the rim of her glasses. She reminded Duo of the stereotyped old librarians with a patronizing disposition, only Relena was young and she wasn't being patronizing.

"I don't complain because David is great at his job. My security is the best it could ever hope to be," she answered, slow and deliberately.

"No, he's not good at his job! _Heero_ was great at the job!" Duo snorted, covering his mouth quickly. Heero was rarely, if ever, mentioned around Relena due to the instable and undetermined relationship between the former Gundam pilot and politician.

There was no noticeable reaction from Relena as she seemingly read the file, but Duo saw the slightest hesitation in the tapping of her pen.

"Heero's gone Duo and David's in charge now. We _all_ have to deal with it," Relena stated quite bluntly.

Eyeing the woman on the couch, Duo shook his head. She was not the same Relena from twelve or even seven years ago. If she had been then she would have been more open about her true feelings about Heero's abrupt desertion and David's command of her security. No, this Relena before him was more distant with her emotions, not opening up or opening very little to those closest to her.

It was to be expected of course, but Duo kept thinking that there were times when the old, open Relena was there, talking to him; spilling her pains and troubles to him so that he could give a few words of wisdom that his experiences granted him. Those were just thoughts though, wishful thinking, nothing more.

"Why do you have to pretend not to care that Heero's gone? For all any of us know, he could be out there watching you, _protecting_ you in the shadows." Relena stopped reading and stared blankly at the file. "Hell, he probably has caught the stalker already," Duo explained, laughingly.

"No," Relena muttered numbly after shaking herself to reality. "I believed that for the longest time Duo, but we have to face the facts sooner or later. Heero's no longer protecting me; visibly or from the shadows."

Not knowing what to say, Duo just stared at Relena in amazement. He had never expected her to actually deny the idea or to even confess having had those very ideas at one time or another.

"Heero's gone Duo, leaving no trail for us to follow if we were ever in need of him," concluded Relena, setting aside the file and rising to her feet. She had found herself suddenly unmotivated to work. "As for why I pretend to not care…I just don't want to leave myself open to more of the hurt that only Heero Yuy causes."

This had been the first time in five years that Relena had actually said anything that allowed other to know her mind, and it surprised Duo greatly. He was speechless, a rarity as he was normally ready for a comeback, defense, or a careless remark.

"Night Duo," Relena said, kissing his cheek before returning to the couch with a pillow and blanket then settling down for sleep. She prayed for Sandman to stay away from her and bring her no dreams that night, or else they would be of an uneasy subject.

* * *

It was six in the morning when Duo had escorted Relena into the conference building for one final day of debating. Almost no one but the doorman, a few guards, and a receptionist were in the building, as well as a person with a head of blue hair standing by the elevators.

"Oh shit, that's right! I'm supposed to hang out with Hilde today," Duo mumbled, slapping his forehead.

"A date?" Relena inquired in a slightly teasing voice. It was not everyday that Duo went out with Hilde or when Hilde would jump on a shuttle to come see Duo. So, it was slightly suspicious.

"Nah, just something to celebrate her birthday," Duo corrected, rubbing the back of his neck a bit.

"I see…" Relena nodded, noting how Duo kept glancing at his reflection in _any_ reflective object. "Duo, you look dashing in your uniform and you are well groomed," she assured him.

He laughed it off. "Am I _that_ transparent?"

"No. Take the day off, I can walk up to the office on my own without getting into trouble," Relena smiled, waving a bit to Hilde when the other girl finally saw that the two were in the building.

Duo spun around, protesting, "I can't do that, David and her ladyship would have my head!"

"Don't worry about David; I'll deal with him, and as for Lady Une. She'll _never_ know," reassured the Vice Foreign Minister, opening the stairwell door. "Go! Have some fun! Enjoy your day off for once."

Closing the door, Relena made her way up the stairs, taking two at a time. Contrary to popular belief, Relena did not wear high heels, unless there was a formal event she had to attend to. No, she preferred flat shoes that allowed her to be comfortable but did not give her the appearance of being lazy.

Much like the President of the Unified Nation, Relena was a public person and had to maintain a public persona. So, when meeting with people she would wear the flat shoes and it gave off the impression that Relena was like any other person in wanting to be comfortable. Of course, it was not just a public persona but something that was in fact true; Relena did want comfort.

Exiting the stairwell on the twenty-fourth floor, Relena headed down the hall to her temporary office. About to open her office door, Relena was stopped by someone calling out her name.

"Miss Darlian!"

She turned to find David striding up to her in his freshly cleaned and ironed Preventer uniform. Relena let go of the door handle and cocked her head at David, wondering when he had had the time to wash and iron his uniform.

"David, what are you doing up here so early?" she questioned.

"Checking the floor. Where's Duo? Why isn't he with you?" David inquired, glancing about for any sign of the braided Preventer.

"I gave him the day off to spend with Hilde," answered Relena, reaching for the office door again.

"You what!" David cried, turning on his heels and heading to the elevators.

Releasing the door handle again, Relena raced after her Head of Security. Having caught up with David, Relena grabbed his arm and pulled him to a halt around the corner.

"What are you going to do?" demanded Relena.

"I'm going to cancel Maxwell's vacation day," David stated.

Relena rolled her eyes. "Don't," she commanded. "Just let him go out and have some fun for a change. Please."

"Miss Darlian…"

David was unable to say anything else as an explosion was heard and instinctively, he grabbed Relena. Pulling her close against his form, David sandwiched the Vice Foreign Minister between his body and the wall, using himself as a shield against any debris.

"Damn…"

* * *

"This is Diane Jay for SNT news. As you can see I am standing outside colony L-4S2990's Government Conference Tower where at 6:25 this morning an explosion occurred. The explosion was isolated to one room, the office of Vice Foreign Minister, Miss Relena Darlian. Only one causality has been reported, that of custodian Robert Burns, who had opened the office door to dispose of the garbage.

"Also, reports have stated that the recent debates of Labor Suites have been postponed for a future date. Currently, the Preventers refuse to confirm or deny the explosion as a terrorist attack against Labor Suites…"

Lady Une shut off her television monitor and leaned back in her chair. Her ass was on the line again, as President Martian was more than willing to inform her as well as the fact that the Preventer Department was being paid to prevent these exact types of situations.

Rubbing her temples, Lady Une looked down at the latest note the stalker had left Ms. Darlian, this time at the reception desk. The receptionist handed the letter to David, who came out with minor scratches, after the explosion.

That explosion was no terrorist attack against Labor Suites. No, this guy was trying to get Relena's attention and he was willing to do whatever it took to get it too, even if it meant potentially killing her.

_Unless, _Lady Une mused, _he hadn't meant for her to be there at all when that bomb went off. Perhaps this guy had miscalculated the time Miss Darlian was going to be at the office._ It was only a hypothesis but it was as good of a suggestion as anything else.

"What do I now do with her? This can't continue like this and I need the manpower in order to find this guy, but if I take staff away from Relena she will be completely defenseless. So, what do I do with her?" Lady Une wondered aloud.

Everyone was well aware of Relena's uncanny ability to attract danger to her and make life difficult for the Preventers, but it had never been quite this difficult before. There had not been anyone as immaculate as this stalker or as calculating. It was frustrating!

"This is a fine mess we've gotten into," Lady Une mumbled before the phone rang. Sighing, Une put the phone to her ear under the belief that the other person was the president once again. "Une."

"How was this explosion allowed to occur?"

Lady Une bolted out of her seat. "Heero…"

**Thank you to: Amulak, Lynn-Minmay, CrimsonDragon010, jennimo, Ulitheal, DogDemonK9 (for chapters 1 and 2), Hououza, Amy, Lil Dev G, and Morrighan of Crimson and Sable. Wow, you guys are fabulous! Seriously, this is a lot of reviews that I'm getting for this fic. I'm truly impressed by this!**

**Sorry about the cliffhanger again, I have to leave some place for me to start with next time. Plus, I brought Heero in now.**


	4. An Understanding

An Understanding Love

"Heero…" Lady Une muttered in a half growl. On one hand she was surprised that he even bothered to call instead of just make a magically appearance, but on the other hand she was annoyed that he was questioning the Preventers' ability to protect Relena.

"How was this explosion allowed to occur, Une? I thought I had left her in Duo's reliable hands," Heero repeated, angering Lady Une further.

Removing the phone from her ear for a moment, Une glared at it as though she were actually glaring at Heero before returning it to her ear. "Heero, I don't know what you think you're doing but you are no longer a Preventer, thus making Relena no longer your responsibility. So, leave everything to us and return to your life…"

"Une, who was behind the explosion? Is it a terrorist group? Is it connected to the hostage situation from yesterday?" Heero questioned.

What was he trying to do, gain information from her? Well, she was not a well of information that would willingly give answers to any and every question asked. "That is classified information that only Relena's Head of Security and specially assigned Preventers will know about," Une replied sharply.

Heero sighed and spoke in a hushed voice, "Maxwell has no real leads, does he? There might be a connection with another case they are working on but they are uncertain…"

"Maxwell's been talking to you too much," Une stated, looking up through the windows of her office at where Duo was comforting Relena while David ran through suggestions of what Relena could do.

"What is this other case he is trying to connect the bombing to?" Heero questioned, lowering his voice further.

"Nothing you need to know about," her ladyship claimed, catching Duo's eye through the glass and motioning him into the office.

Duo must have suspected that it was Heero his boss was speaking with as his face twisted into a guiltily caught expression that plainly stated that he thought he was screwed; and rightly so. Saying his last comforting words, Duo excused himself and went to the office door.

"If it concerns with her safety then I should know about it," argued the former gundam pilot on the phone.

Entering the office, Duo softly but hurriedly closed the door behind him. He didn't want Relena to accidentally find out that Lady Une was speaking with Heero on the phone, especially after eight years with no contact.

"You gave up all rights to protecting her when you handed me your resignation letter," Lady Une pointed out. She wasn't certain if her words would affect him emotionally but it was the truth and there was no way to argue it. "Have you forgotten?"

"No," was the clipped answer.

Duo nervously shifted his weight from foot to foot as he heard Une's side of the conversation. He had told Heero all he could about the bombing, hostage situation, and the possible connection to the stalker without mentioning that Relena was being stalked. If he had mentioned that Relena was being stalked and they had no leads as to who the stalker was then Heero would have had Duo's head on a platter. The former Wing pilot had left Duo with strict instructions concerning Relena's safety and explicit consequences if he failed.

"Good, then we have nothing more to discuss," Une said decisively, about to hang up the phone.

"What do you plan to do with her?" Heero inquired.

Lady Une wanted to slam the phone against her desk. Heero had the remarkable ability of saying or asking the wrong thing. However, that 'wrong thing' also was his advantage as it often made people stop in their tracks or leave them speechless.

"What I decide to do with her will have no influence from you," stated Une. "Relena will most likely be put into the care of Willington and Maxwell wherever I decide to send her to."

"Willington?" echoed Heero. "Who is that?"

"Willington is Relena's Head of Security. I would have thought that Maxwell would have told you that by now."

Once again, Duo's guilty as charged expression appeared meaning that Duo knew he was screwed again. He just had inadvertently dug his hypothetical grave with both his superior and his friend who had entrusted me with keeping Relena safe and supplying information about the recent events. Duo cringed as he stood there looking around the room and listening to one side of the conversation.

"What happened to Duo, what made you demote him?" Heero questioned, his voice becoming hard.

"I didn't, Relena had Willington positioned as her Head of Security after the intruder and assassination attempts two years ago. Something you wouldn't know about," Une informed him. "Maxwell protested but finally agreed for reasons that I do not know as he and the Vice Foreign Minister had come to an agreement."

Duo shifted again, they were talking about him. _Him_! The funny guy who was supposed to be dependable for any and everything, including taking a bullet for a friend when needed.

_Heero's planning to kill me,_ he thought.

"He can't be trusted," Heero simply stated.

"You say this why? What gives you any right to express an opinion on Willington when you have not met him or even know him?" demanded the chief Preventer. "Willington has done a lot to keep Relena safe…"

"And has failed," the ex-gundam pilot noted.

"You say that about Willington but not about Maxwell," Duo winced, "what makes Maxwell so special?" Une inquired, unconsciously catching Relena's eye through the mirror. The younger girl was giving her an intrigued expression with her head cocked to one side. She obviously knew that Une was talking to someone important but didn't quite know who just yet.

Pointing to Duo, Une motioned for him to go to the window and pull down the blinds. He did so and waved at Relena while giving her a thumb's up before blocking her view with the blinds.

"Maxwell can't be trusted with Relena's life either, he had failed with allowing that assassin to get too close to Relena and allowing that intruder inside the same building as Relena," Heero replied.

"Then who is to be trusted? Quatre? He would be one of the first people thought to hide Relena besides Zeches and Noin. Besides, Zeches and Noin are too busy with the Terra Forming Project on Mars to hide Relena. Trowa? A good choice but I'm not certain if I could depend on Relena not trying to run off and putting her life in danger as well as civilians from the circus. Plus, it's too difficult for us to contact Trowa except through his period calls, which isn't for another two weeks. Wufei? I have him working on another case in South America with Po and I cannot afford to replace him with someone else on such short notice," Lady Une explained, leafing through her reports on her desk.

"Assign her to me."

Lady Une did the one thing she rarely did, she laughed. It was an ironic, bitter laugh and it made Duo as to what Heero could have possibly have said make his superior think it ridiculous, as almost no one ever laughed like that without finding something ridiculous.

"You!"

Duo made a pained look. _Heero, what are you thinking! Suggesting that you to do anything?_

Heero didn't reply.

"You, if you remember, left the Preventers eight years ago. You turned in your resignation slip to me without anyone else knowing, you abandoned Relena, and don't forget that I'm not quite certain how she will feel about being put under _your_ care. How can we know that you won't abandon her again?" challenged her ladyship.

Something broke in the background, causing Heero curse softly. "I won't abandon her, when have I ever failed you in protecting her?"

"When you left."

There was a long pause and Une was almost certain that Heero had hung up and was about to hang up when something was said.

"What was that?" Une sighed, didn't he ever give up?

"I can't leave her if she comes to stay with me," he repeated.

"Heero, this person or persons would find you as you are undoubtedly the very first person anyone would think we would send Relena to…" Lady Une argued.

"No one will find us. I live out in the country with a town not ten miles from my house and…a few trustworthy people nearby," he assured. "I will give you my address, what plane to get one, what airport, and where I'll pick her up if we have reached an accord."

Glancing up at Duo, Lady Une made the braided Preventer uncomfortable and thinking that she was about to yell at him about mentioning something else he shouldn't have. _Although,_ Duo thought, _I don't recall telling Heero anything else._

"Fine, you're in charge of Relena's safety. However," added Lady Une, not about to lift Heero's hopes too high, "Willington, Maxwell, and I will keep your address and phone number, you will report to me weekly and inform me of any, and I mean _any_ Heero, strange activity. There is to be no one who will know that it is Relena Darlian who is staying with you, not even your roommates, if you have any. Duo will travel with Relena until you pick her up. Relena is to be kept within your sights and on your property only; she is not allowed to go to town. If she needs anything you must get it or have one of your 'trustworthy friends' get it. Do we have an understanding?"

Heero grunted, "Understood."

"Good. Now address," Une commanded, clicking a pen and scribbling down the address on a sticky note pad. "She'll be on her way to you within three hours and you will meet her tomorrow. Duo will call you from the airport with the landing time."

"Got it."

"Good, now commit this to memory, call weekly! If you miss a call I will send in Willington and Maxwell to retrieve her and you will never be in charge of her safety ever again."

There was a shorter pause and it wasn't out of hesitation as there was some noise in the background.

"I'll keep that in mind. Just have Duo call me on my cell phone; that number hasn't changed. All I ask is that you don't tell Relena where she is going or whose protection she's being put under."

Une rolled her eyes. "Done." With that she ended further conversation by hanging up the phone and glaring at Duo.

"Uh…"

"Maxwell, the next time you wish to disclose classified information, don't! More than half of the information Heero possessed was not disclosed to the public nor should it have. What else did you tell him?"

Having straightened his stance, Duo stood in parade stance. "I told him as little as possible. Only that the bombing may have something to do with that stalker case, but I didn't mention the case being about a stalker, I merely referred to it as 'this other case'. I also may have said something about not having any leads."

Lady Une sighed. "Go tell Relena to pack a small bag; she's going on a vacation until we find this stalker. Tell her to pack very casual clothes she might not mind getting dirtied."

Duo grinned, teasingly, "She going to be working hard outside or something?" Another glare from his superior wiped the grinned away. "Sorry."

"You have one hour, I will have two plane tickets ready for you two when you get back," instructed Lady Une, straightening her desk and sitting down.

"Yes ma'am," Duo saluted and turned to leave then stopped at the door. "Lady Une, may I say something?"

"Go ahead," grunted Lady Une, busying herself with some paperwork, not even bothering to look up at the Preventer.

Approaching the desk, Duo stated, "Do you think we really have to give Willington Relena's location? Or could we possibly not tell him that it is Heero whom she is staying with?"

Her pen halted and Duo's superior slow raised her eyes up to him, leaned back, and raised a questioning eyebrow. "Why do you suggest this?"

"Well, to be perfectly blunt, Willington is rather resentful toward Heero and may cause some problems, such as question your orders more than track down this stalker," explained Duo.

Lady Une thought about it for a moment. "Very well, we'll keep the identity of Relena's keeper a secret from both Relena and Willington. However, we must give Willington a name so, what shall it be?"

"Didn't Heero give you a name?" Duo asked, surprised.

"No, did he give you one?"

"No but his ID on my cell phone came up as 'Miles Davidson'," Duo answered, shifting his weight again.

Pushing herself off the back of the chair, Lady Une nodded. "Then it's settled, Miles Davidson it is. Now, get Relena packed and be back here in forty-five minutes for your tickets."

"Ma'am!"

**Thank you to: ****Ulitheal, The hero of time 2005, Hououza, Morrighan of Crimson and Sable, Lynn-Minmay, DogDemonK9, Amulak, lildevg, Clarobell, jlisvik, and Duck3. You guys are so great. Wow, I never would have expected so many reviews, not that I'm complaining. Alright, I'll try to make one more updation before I leave for ****New Zealand**** and ****Australia**


	5. Flying Away

An Understanding Love

**Wow, this took longer than what I anticipated. Sorry about that. I've gotten lazy over the summer, again, but I'm trying to get back on track. Alright let's pray that I'll have the next chapter up by August 5th or 6th.**

Being Relena's bodyguard meant that Duo protected her from anything he felt may endanger her, escort her from place to place, keep watch over her room, report into his superiors, and, of course, get to know his charge when she was being difficult and complaisant. Unfortunately, she was being a bit more difficult than what Duo had suspected she would be. After all, she would have been dead, blown up due to the bomb, if it hadn't been for David.

Duo had never questioned why his superior Preventer had been present in that building at the time, but he was grateful for the coincidence.

Heading to the nearest payphone to call Heero, Duo glanced over at Relena who was sitting with her arms folded and legs crossed, meaning she wasn't liking this plan of action. Certain that she wasn't going to follow him, Duo pulled out the slip of paper that had Heero's cell phone number on it.

_She's going to kill me when she finds out who's actually going to take care of her,_ Duo sighed, glancing nervously at his charge once again. She was still sitting there, under the impression that Duo was going to be staying with her, wherever she was going. _Here goes nothing._

Picking up the phone, Duo swept his phone card and dialed the number. The phone rang once before it was picked up.

"Davidson," Heero's voice grunted.

"Heero?" Duo inquired, checking the number on the paper to what he had dialed.

"Hn, yes Duo, now when are you two going to land?" Heero asked while in the background there were sounds of an argument going on.

"Oh right!" Momentarily taken off guard by Heero answering the phone with 'Davidson' rather than 'Yuy', Duo composed himself and checked his ticket. "We'll be landing at 8:25 pm. I'll try to make sure she's not too jet lagged."

"Good, she'll need her sleep."

Not really interested in what Heero meant by that statement, Duo instead asked, "Heero, what's up with the name Miles Davidson? What was the purpose of you changing your name?"

There was a bit of silence from the perfect soldier's end. "That's none of your business. See you tomorrow night."

"Yeah, we got to gain sometime this way," grinned Duo before he heard the dial tone. "Bastard hung up on me!" He couldn't believe it; Heero had _hung up_ on _him_! It wasn't uncommon but after eight years Duo thought that his buddy would've gained more social manners.

With a shake of his head, Duo hung up the phone and returned to Relena's side, slipping the piece paper with Heero's number into his back pocket. Leaning into his seat, Duo waited for Relena to start talking like she normally did.

Duo had come to the conclusion that Relena had some unknown fear of dead silence and would have a need for constant talking. However, he was beginning to think he was mistaken as Relena continued to just silently sit beside him with that displeased pout on her features.

"Argh! I can't take this anymore, come on Relena, talk to me or yell at me. Just say something; anything!" implored Duo with a sigh. Still she refused to say a single word and sat there unfazed. "I know you want to talk about this so come on. Are you upset that it's me who's taking you instead of David? Are you upset with Lady Une about this entire thing? Come on, say _something_."

Finally Duo got a reaction; Relena turned her head to him slightly with a questioning expression on her face. Raising a hand up to brush back some hair behind her ear, Relena pulled off a small headphone.

"Did you say something?" she asked sweetly as loud, jazz music blasted through the earpiece.

For a moment Duo gapped in shock. "You mean…were you listening to that this entire time?" He pointed at the earpiece that hung limply to the armrest.

"I needed to listen to something a bit more relaxing for this trip. Do you know how long this flight to the LA International Airport is?" she explained calmly, a bit too calmly for Duo's liking as he knew what women could be like when mad. One way was that they could be very explosive and rather expressive, which was the way Duo preferred because didn't mean he had to sit through the wrath for long. Another, popular, method to act when mad was to be strangely calm which held a more volcanic reaction where the compressed anger gathered until the woman could take it no more.

That was all that Duo had experienced so far in his life, if there were any other ways women dealt with anger, he didn't want to know them. He had two major women in his life to contend with, Relena and Hilde, or three women if anyone included Lady Une. More than enough women, in Duo's opinion, for him to feel the women's wrath from.

"I see…" Duo nodded, waiting for Relena to start slowly expressing her feelings on being put under some mystery person's care and under a new identity.

Counting the seconds, Duo silently prayed that his charge would open up soon as he stared up at the ceiling, fighting off the exhaustion that came after a long day with an adrenaline rush.

_Fifty-eight, fifty-nine, sixty…Damn, come on girl,_ Duo thought._ Sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty-_

"Why is she doing this to me? We've lasted this long and I have only a few months left, what could possibly happen to me within that time? Why is she putting me into this kind of situation?" Relena finally spoke up in a grumble.

"This has gotten out of control Relena and we need every available person to be tracking this guy down without you being in danger," Duo explained. "Besides, in case you have forgotten, that bomb today was in _your_ office and you could have been killed."

Relena put her elbow on the armrest and rested her chin on her fist. "That's not right, you would've taken the front of the blow while I was around the corner normally because you would have been the one to open the door and check for bombs before I would be permitted to enter. At least that's what would have happened if I hadn't insisted that you just take the day off."

"Either way your life is in danger if you stay in the public's eye, so we're sending you to someone who can take care of you," Duo reasoned.

The politician just shook her head. "What's to say that this stalker person won't find me, wherever we're going?" she challenged.

Duo had been waiting for this one but he just hadn't planned out his response as well as he believed he could've. "Doubtful since only Lady Une, David, and I will know exactly where you are and Lady Une is supposed to be receiving reports…weekly, I think," explained Duo. "No one outside the three of us, not even you, will know exactly where you are or how to reach you."

"How am I supposed to get any work done?" Relena sighed, folding her arms again and leaning her head onto Duo's shoulder, she was just as tired as he was.

"If you want I can speak to this person and have a post box set up for you where this person can pick up your work, take it to you, and then send it back to your secretary," suggested Duo, consciously trying not to say 'Heero'.

Opening her mouth to say something, Relena was prevented by the PA announcing first class passengers for their flight. Almost instantly they announced passengers from rows 78 to 60 to board, which was where the Preventer and politician were seated.

"That's us," Duo muttered, getting up and grabbing Relena's carry-on. _Thankfully they called our row. I don't want her to ask about Heero._

Following her bodyguard's motion, Relena got up as well and pulled out her passport and ticket from her coats' inside pocket. She remained completely oblivious to her surroundings even though there was something nearby making constant clicking sound, like from a camera.

Handing her passport and ticket to the man, he did a quick glance at the passport then her face as the ticket was scanned. "Enjoy your flight," he told her, handing back her ticket and passport.

"Thank you," nodded Relena as she took her papers and was escorted by Duo to the plane.

They were in the last seats in the back, Duo with the aisle seat and Relena with the window seat. Buckled in her seat and her bag stored underneath the seat in front of her, Relena leaned her head against the window with a sigh.

"Who is this mystery person?" she mumbled.

"Mmh?" her companion returned, having not heard what she had said.

Straightening up, Relena repeated herself, "Who is this mystery person?"

"We have no clue as to who is stalking you, princess," Duo answered, eyeing a female flight attendant in a skirt.

Rolling her eyes, Relena pulled on Duo's ear to regain his full attention and she was rewarded with it. "Hey, ow!"

"You know that I wasn't talking about the stalker, now tell me who this mystery person we're off to meet is," commanded Relena in a firm tone that usually would get any information she wanted out of people.

Shrugging out of Relena's hold on his ear, Duo fought off the temptation to stiffen; stiffening would only prove that it was in fact Heero because the subject of the ex-Preventer was a sensitive one. Relena didn't talk about him or make any mention of him, so when Duo would hint at the man he would stiffen.

"It isn't Heero, is it?" she guessed with a warning tone lacing the edges of her words.

Not wanting to give it away with any of his typical tell-tale signs, Duo just stared straight ahead and shook his head. She doubted him, he could just feel it in how she stared out the window. Sneaking a glance, Duo saw that she wore an expression of a person who was exasperated, angered, but resigned to her fate; it pained Duo to see her so, especially when she had hit the head of the nail.

_Lie! Think of a lie, you fool,_ Duo commanded as he unconsciously reached into his pocket and pulled out Heero's number. Looking down at the paper, Duo folded over the number and kept the name 'Miles Davidson' visible. _This is convincible!_

"Actually," he began, holding the piece of paper in front of Relena, "this guy is who we're going to see."

Curious, Relena glanced at the slip of paper. "Miles Davidson? Who is he?" she asked, staring questioningly at the paper.

"The guy we're meeting."

"I know that but who exactly is he? Is he a Preventer? Government agent? Bodyguard? What does he do? Where is he from? Is he a private investigator? Does he have family?" Relena clarified.

Slipping the paper back into his pocket, Duo sighed, "Lady Une didn't give me any information about this guy expect a contact number and name. Beyond that I'm as much in the dark about him as you are." A complete lie, but convincing enough.

"I suppose so, I mean this is meant to be a secret plan sort of and my location is meant to remain a secret as well, even from me." Pulling out her ticket, Relena added, "Although my ticket plainly states what airport we're going to and in what town."

"But that may not be the town you'll be staying at," Duo pointed out. "Now, let's try to get some sleep, you'll need it. Or better yet, don't get any sleep at all and just play solitaire the entire time, again."

Relena hit her bodyguard with the plane pillow. "You promised never to mention that flight ever again! I couldn't sleep," she insisted with a pout.

"Thanks for the pillow," grinned Duo, adjusting himself to a more comfortable position with two pillows under his head.

Realizing she had lost her pillow for good, Relena turned her head out the window. "Jerk."

"Night princess."

* * *

It was nearing seven thirty at night and Heero knew he had to leave for the airport. Grabbing the keys to his pick-up truck and his jean jacket, Heero made his way to the door as quietly as he could.

He began to open the door when he heard some stirring up the stairs. Waiting until the stirring stopped, Heero stood at the door ready to duck outside and make a dash for it, or even hide in the pantry. He wanted to make it out of the house with as little attention as possible.

Comforted with the fact that the stirring had stopped and everything was once again as silent as possible in the ever growing evening. He had to quit his planting early in order to make ready for Relena's arrival.

Going out the door, closing it quietly behind him, Heero made his way across the front porch and down the stairs to his mud covered truck. Who would have ever thought that Heero, the man with many talents, would be reduced down to a dirt doused, pick-up truck? Especially when he could have had a motorcycle or a classic car?

In his truck, Heero gave himself a once over in the rearview mirror. No dirt on his face, hair still untamable, and no noticeable markings of a long day in the corn fields. Good, he didn't need to give away too much of his lifestyle to Relena when she landed with Duo…

"Relena…" he groaned, turning on the ignition and shifting the car into drive. He had tried to keep thoughts of Relena as far from his mind as possible for the last eight years, however it had proved to be useless except during the plowing, planting, and picking seasons. Well, thoughts of Relena had occurred to him several times while going through the corn fields during the picking season, it was hard not to imagine her among the tall stalks. Or to hallucinate her there once in a while.

"Damn it," he muttered, pulling out into the road. "This is going to be hell."

With that said, Heero took off toward the closest airport to pick up his charge.

**Thank you to: Hououza, CrimsonDragon010, gundamgirl818, RedLion2, Morrighan of Crimson and Sable, heaven'sgirl, The hero of time 2005, Nebbie, Rin Amaru, Ulitheal, DogDemonK9, Katie Yuy, and darkfairy88. Thank you all, and thank you so much for the compliments on the plot. I'm hoping that I don't end up disappointing you guys.**


	6. Reunion

An Understanding Love

**I made it! Ha! Now I pay the consequences in the morning since I have to wake up at ****6 am**** to let out my neighbor's dogs and get ready for my first day of Saturday band camp. Yeah, six hours in the sun, fun.**

**Next updation will be…August 19th or 20th.**

Planes were never a big deal to Relena; normally she could sleep throughout the entire flight, except for one previous occasion when her mind was just reeling constantly to the point where she was mindlessly playing solitaire. Unfortunately, she was about to have a repeat of that event when Duo had returned from his fifth bathroom trip (he drank a lot of water) and handed Relena a pill.

"Take it," he instructed, sitting down and readjusting his sleeping position.

"What is it?" Relena inquired, looking at the pill suspiciously.

"A sleeping pill, now take it while we still got some time left for you to sleep," grumbled Duo, snuggling into the blanket and pillows.

Relena frowned at the pill before rolling it into the napkin underneath her cup of water. She didn't trust sleeping pills, especially after someone about nine years back had given her a pill saying that it was aspirin when it was in fact a sleeping pill designed to knock Relena unconscious to make it easier to kidnap her. Once again, Heero had been there for the rescue.

It wasn't that Relena didn't trust Duo, she trusted him with her life, but she didn't trust the source of Duo's sleeping pill. Besides, despite the fact that she should get a few hours of sleep, at the very least, Relena knew that it would be more beneficial for her to get no sleep until they landed.

Playing the card game on the television, Relena put her headphones back on and continued to listen to some music at least thirty years old if not older. It wasn't horrible music; she grew up on that kind of music as well as the traditional classical music.

Having taken a music history class at the St. Gabriel Institution Relena knew the whole concept of how music got to where it was at today, After Colony 208. Back in the time before mankind settled into outer space, the first year of After Colony, there was a massive popularity for lyrical music to express the way life was, dreams, hopes, feelings, and anything else people wrote about.

Then by After Colony 29 when the first real need to be 'original' in the new era broke out. It became almost a trend and most people expected it to fade out soon like so many other trends. However, the critics and the producing companies weren't looking for lyrical artists any more, eventually many lyrical artists dropped out and began to speak their emotions through instruments.

Since After Colony 122, instrumental music, sometimes accompanied by lyrics for musicals or operas, had been the only real music listened to by the people of Earth and the colonies. Relena often found it to be slightly disappointing especially since the only lyrical music that could be found were at local clubs performed by local bands.

What was even more disappointing for Relena was the fact that she had never once heard a lyrical band as she had never gone out clubbing or gone to parties that weren't somehow associated with school. Then anything associated with school, parties or festivals for fundraisers, only played instrumental music provided by the school's orchestra.

Personally, Relena preferred jazz and samba music. One of the reasons was for the interesting composition of the music and the openness for improvisation that is rarely offered in other genres of music.

With a sigh of exasperation, Relena exited the card game to check how much time they had left before landing.

"Huh?" Squinting at the screen, Relena turned to Duo and shook her head. "We only have about an hour left before landing…that idiot," she muttered without malice. She couldn't hate or be angered at Duo. After all, he deserved the sleep he was getting from the flight.

_I wonder if he knows,_ she thought, leaning over to her bodyguard. "Duo…" There was no response. "Duo." There was a slight stir from the bodyguard, but still no reply. "Duo!"

"Wha-?" he mumbled sleepily.

"We're going to be landing in about an hour," Relena informed him.

"Really? Sorry, didn't realize that. Did you already take that pill?"

"No, thankfully," she replied, returning to her card game.

"Good…" he mumbled, returning to his dreamless world for the last hour before they would land in LA International Airport and make their way to their next flight which left in another hour and half after they landed.

_I'll try to get her to take that pill on the next flight, _Duo decided. The plan was simple, have Relena take a sleeping pill on one of the planes and have her sleep the whole way. Then when they were at their destination Duo would carry her off the plane and hand her sleeping form off to Heero. No living any freak outs, any dirty looks, or awkward moments to be shared, just a hand off. That way, Duo figured he wouldn't be in any danger of an angered Relena, and Heero would be left to deal with it all.

It was perfect! Flawless! Nothing could go wrong!

* * *

_Nothing could go wrong, yeah right!_ Duo muttered as they got off their three hour flight from Los Angeles. Relena was still wide awake, a bit disoriented, but awake as she hadn't taken that sleeping pill as planned.

Duo gave himself another mental kick. Sometimes he really wished that irony was some sort of fat, balding geezer with a cigar, a toupee, and millions of warts and pimples on his face so that way Duo would feel no guilt in shooting him between the eyes. Although irony wasn't the only one going to be shot, Murphy's Law was going to be murdered as well.

_Where's a gun when I need one?_ sighed Duo, his hands fidgeting about.

"What are you nervous for?" Relena questioned, having noted Duo's agitation. "You're not the person who is being dropped into the care of some mystery person."

Nodding his acknowledgement, Duo made no other move to respond.

"Well, at least I'll have you to look after me as well," Relena stated.

The Preventer stopped, quite literally, in the middle of the crowd while Relena took a few steps ahead of him. What did she just say? That wasn't part of the plan, as far as Duo was concerned.

"What?" he gulped, his voice cracking a bit.

Now it was Relena's turn to stop and turn to her companion. "Well, I assume that you're staying with me as Lady Une would never give a strange complete responsibility of me, especially someone unknown like this Miles Davidson."

"Well…uh…" _Damn it, why does she have to be so observant? If she hadn't taken notice of that tiny fact, I could lie a lot better. I think._ "You see, princess, her ladyship wants all hands that she can get on this stalker case so this guy will be in charge of you all by himself. I'm going to be returning to headquarters after I drop you off."

It wasn't a complete lie. It wasn't even an half lie, it was completely true; Lady Une wanted as many people working on the stalker case as possible and Heero was going to be the only person in charge of keeping Relena safe. She just didn't need to know that it was Heero who she was going to be staying with quite yet.

"Duo, what are you not telling me?" Relena questioned, with a quirked eyebrow. Her bodyguard was hiding something and she wanted to know what it was.

"We're going to be late, let's go," Duo claimed, walking up to Relena and grabbing her wrist before leading her to the metal detectors by the gate entrance and exit. _That guy better be here or I'll kill him._

"You're avoiding my questions Duo," his female companion pointed out as she let herself be dragged away.

There was a small crowd of people waiting on the other side of the metal detectors to welcome friends and family. However, Duo found one person to be absent from the crowd.

"Please don't tell me he got cold feet at the last minute," he muttered, dropping Relena's wrist as he scanned the people.

Looking around the crowd as well, Relena tried to pick out anyone who might seem to recognize her or Duo; just anyone who seemed the type to work for the Preventers in general.

No one. There was no one there.

"Duo, do you have a picture of this guy or something we can identify him with?" Relena inquired as she continued to look through the crowds.

"No, but I saw a picture of him," her bodyguard lied. _Heero…where are you? You better just be late you…_

"Describe him to me," instructed the Vice Foreign Minister as she continued to scan the crowds, something Duo was neglecting.

He couldn't help it, he snorted, "He uh…Miles is a fairly tall guy, brown hair, blue eyes, white teeth…what else would you like to know?"

Suddenly Duo felt his sixth sense kick in, it wasn't instinct either, it was the 'you're screwed' sense. Something was wrong.

"You mean he looks exactly like Heero," she assumed, but her tone said otherwise. It sounded like she come onto something.

Where had he gone wrong? Many guys had brown hair and blue eyes, and Duo never mentioned 'Miles Davidson' as being Japanese in any shape or form. So, how did she figure that out so quickly?

"What makes you say that?" Duo swallowed, not daring to turn around to face his charge.

"Oh I don't know, maybe because I see him leaning against the wall off to your right, watching us," offered Relena, her voice tight.

A single word ran through Duo's mind, _Crap._ His sixth sense had been proven correct, he was screwed and there was no way out of this.

"Relena, I can explain…" Duo began.

Without a word, not even a 'save it', Relena brushed past Duo and made her way to Heero. In the background, Duo stared completely dumbfounded after her until he recalled his composure and followed her.

Heero had been watching the two for quite some time, and he had been following along their conversation as best as he could; he couldn't always see how their lips moved but he was able to piece together what they were saying for the most part.

He had been hoping that they wouldn't notice him until he made his move toward them. In his mind he had been bracing himself for any verbal outburst that might come from Relena and any resistance she might give them.

However, his wishes went down the drain as Relena caught sight of him and said something to Duo that Heero couldn't quite make out as group of educational students blocked his view. Then by the time the group had passed Relena was already coming to him.

Unlike most other men in his position, Heero was not intimidated, nervous, or trying to think of what to say. He was Heero Yuy after all, and he always knew what to say, it may not be the correct thing to say but he was able to always say _something_.

"Grab your bag, we need to go," he simply said when Relena was standing directly in front of him.

She was behaving rather oddly. She wasn't saying anything, she wasn't hugging him, she wasn't giving him a blushing smile, nor was she glaring at him. It was simply a blank look that she gave him, one that Heero believed most people associated with him.

He was about to repeat what he had said when something hard slapped him across the cheek. It wasn't necessarily painful but it did amaze the perfect soldier a bit, especially since Relena had never _ever_ slapped him before. The most she had ever done was say a few scolding words to him that she knew he would ignore, but slap him! It had seemed like an impossible task.

Without giving her the satisfaction of him even rubbing the cheek, Heero turned back to her only to be slapped on the other cheek. Now, that one stung!

_She must have been saving to use her good hand last,_ he thought. "Are you done yet?"

She still didn't say anything, only turned to head toward the carousels to pick up the duffle bag Duo lent her.

When she was gone, Heero looked over at Duo who stood with one hand hiding his ever widing grin. "Dude…ow…I'm glad that I'm only receiving the silent treatment from her right now because that looked like it hurt."

"Hn." Merely wiping a thumb across his cheek, Heero went after Relena.

"Hey," cried Duo, catching up with Heero, "no, 'nice seeing you again, Duo,' or 'how's it going'?"

"No."

The official Preventer pouted, he forgot how…serious Heero could be. Basically, talking with Heero was like talking to a brick wall except from Heero one could at least get 'hn' as a response. 'Hn' was a response of some kind, after all, right?

"You didn't tell her it was me, did you?" Heero stated indifferently.

Duo rolled his eyes as he sighed, "Of course not. I wasn't about to be the one to break the news to her and then have her get into a hissy mood at me simple because _Lady Une_ was allowing _you_ to be responsible for her."

"You should have told her."

"Next time, I'll let you tell her on the phone." On a more depressing tone, Duo added, "That's only if she'll ever trust me again."

Heero didn't respond, he just picked another spot on the wall near Relena while she waited for the duffle bag to come around. She looked tired, not a little tire but very tired, as though she was about to faint from exhaustion right there.

"Did she sleep at all?" Heero asked.

"Nope, I tried having her take a sleeping pill but she refused. So, she didn't get a wink of sleep throughout both flights. Expect her to fall asleep in the car on the way to your house," Duo replied.

"Truck."

"What?" What did he mean by 'truck'?

"I drive a truck, not a car."

Shaking his head a bit, Duo just decided not to comment upon the correction. He wouldn't have had time to make a comment as Relena came up to both men carrying her carryon and duffle bag.

Looking directly into Heero's eyes, Relena shrugged, "Lead the way, Mr. _Davidson_."

Duo flinched as Relena spat out Heero's alter ego name. Even though her ire wasn't directed at him, Duo could feel it.

Silently and unfazed, Heero nodded, grabbing the duffle bag to carry for Relena.

"You should go check in so you can catch your flight back to LA then home," Relena told Duo, a bit too sweetly.

"Huh…thanks, I'll do that," Duo stuttered, not quite certain what was going with Relena that she would be acting so sweet towards him instead of cold. He didn't have to wait long for the answer.

Across his left cheek Duo felt the matching handprint to Heero's begin to form. That's why she was acting so sweet, to put him off guard, and, unfortunately, it had worked like a charm.

A quick turn on her heel and Relena was making her way to the doors.

"Now you know what kind of 'ow' it is," Heero stated before following Relena to guide her to his truck.

Putting a hand to his marked cheek, Duo rubbed the sensitive skin. "Ow…!" he howled. "I'm almost starting to feel bad for that guy. Almost."

**Thank you to: ****DogDemonK9, gundamgirl818 (Thank you for mentioning 'Splendor in the Grass' because that's where I got my inspiration for this fic from), KyLewin, heaven'sgirl, Hououza, Lynn-Minmay, Rin Amaru, Morrighan of Crimson and Sable, CrimsonDragon010, The hero of time 2005, darthchibichibi, APerfectSoldier87, and Suzuko.**


	7. Truck Ride

An Understanding Love

**Yeah, I'm a few days late. I haven't been doing my normal staying up due to paranoia at about one o'clock** **in the morning. Alright, next chapter will be up sometime between September 3rd to 5th, especially since The hero of time 2005 wants me to write a long chapter (I need more time to do that).**

Silence (n.): something that can be described in several ways, such as comfortable, companionable, tense, uncomfortable, ect. The silence being shared in Heero's truck was far from comfortable as there was too much tension and it was overall unnatural.

Having known Relena for thirteen years and was her head of security for three of those years, Heero knew that it was unlike Relena to be so quiet. Not that he was complaining about the silence, it was fine with him, but he knew that it was very unlike Relena especially when she probably had many questions to ask him. Heero had not known Relena for being relatively quietly or secluded.

_But people can change in eight years,_ he reminded himself.

"So how did you persuade Lady Une to let you be in charge of me?" Relena sighed.

Feeling a smirk touch the corner of his mouth, Heero replied, "No one else was available and you will be safe here."

"Course," she muttered, staring out the window at the dark landscape. She was tired, she really was, but she wasn't about to fall asleep in the truck and give Heero the opportunity to carry her inside. Romantic as it was, there would be no feeling behind it, and she wasn't about to put her hopes up despite her inner romantic urges. "Where are we going?"

"To my house," her 'bodyguard' answered automatically, reaching across Relena to open the glove compartment while his eyes were trained to the road. Pulling out a wallet from the compartment, Heero snapped it closed and dropped the wallet on Relena's lap. "Your new identity is in there along with a background story, should anyone inquire."

Clicking on the overhead light, Relena opened the brown leather wallet and slipped out her identification card. "Relena Goldman? Wow, real original," she commented, sarcasm creeping into her voice. "Don't you think anyone's going to comment about how much I look like me, Relena Darlian? Or how rare a name Relena is?"

"You wouldn't have liked being called by a completely different name," Heero simply stated.

"That's rather presumptuous of you Heero, aren't you the one who said, 'Assumptions lead to mistakes'?" Relena challenged. She would not have minded being referred by a different name but she had to admit that with a new name she might slip up. Might.

"I know you too well Relena, so it's not an assumption."

"You haven't known me for eight years, _Miles_, so it is an assumption," Relena pointed out as she read her 'background'. "Relena Goldman: Twenty-eight years old, born March third, nice change, After Colony 180 at Elizabeth Hospital in London, former England. Well, at least you kept it consistent that I'm originally from Europe."

"Hn."

"Entered Ann Gilliam's Orphanage at the age of two and adopted by the Goldman family at the age of seven. Wow, it almost parallels my real history," Relena remarked, trying to get a rise out of Heero, even if it was virtually impossible. "Father is a lawyer and mother is a teacher. I moved to Japan at the age of nine to attend the St. Gabriel Institution while staying with Aya and Michael Davidson, and son, Miles Davidson. Relationship: aunt, uncle, and cousin."

Relena glanced at Heero then back at the sheet and resisted the undeniable urge to snort. "You and I are cousins then. At least you said that I was adopted, which will now make sense should anyone ask. So, what am I doing visiting you, _coz_?"

Heero did not even flinch at Relena's overly, sugarcoated voice. "Perhaps I should change that part of your background," he commented.

"I think it's fine the way it is, coz. Now, why am I coming to visit you? Hopefully not because I got mixed in the wrong crowd and came running to you for help, or that I'm being chased after by some gang and I need protection."

When did Relena become such a smart-ass? Heero could not recall her being like that when he had left, so what caused such a change to her personality? _Time,_ he decided. _Time has changed her, along with experience._

With a glance over at the woman next to him, Heero noted how Relena had grown out her bangs so that they were tucked behind her ears and not in her eyes. Returning his eyes to the road, Heero found that he was starting to regret volunteering to be in charge of Relena, but he knew that this was the only way he was going to ensure her safety.

"Your reason for staying with me is that you've recently lost your job, unexpectedly, and needed a place to stay until you get back onto your feet," he responded.

"I see…" was all Relena said as they settled back into the unnatural silence that had been briefly eliminated.

With another glance at the politician, Heero noticed the bags under her eyes before she switched off the light and sighed. Why was she still awake when she had to be dead tired? Was she _that_ uncomfortable being in the same vehicle as him?

_She hasn't asked why I left yet,_ he noted. "Go to sleep, you're tired."

Relena sighed, keeping her head from leaning against the window, "I'm fine. Besides, it can't be that much longer to your house, right?"

"About another forty-five minutes."

"Ah…I can stay awake that long," she assured him, pointedly turning her head toward the window.

Watching the girl every chance he got, Heero wondered some more why she had not already asked him why he had left the Preventers or what he had been doing all these years. Did she not care?

_No,_ he decided, returning his eyes to the road. _This is all a test of wills. She wants me to be the first to break down and ask her why she hasn't asked. That is all; a challenge, plain and simple._

Indeed Relena did care about his reasons for leaving but at that time she was too tired to voice her questions, plus she knew that her chances of getting direct answers were slim in this case. She was not making this a challenge to the former gundam pilot.

"I'm surprised that Lady Une hadn't just put you in charge of the case and put me under David's care. It would have made more sense and would have saved us some time, most likely," Relena remarked.

"David?" echoed Heero, his grip on the steering wheel tightening for a moment before returning to normal.

"Yes, didn't Lady Une tell you?" questioned Relena, raising an eyebrow of surprise. "Or Duo for that matter? I know he has kept in contact with you over the years despite Lady Une's orders."

"I contacted him," corrected Heero.

Glancing at her bodyguard, Relena's face softened a bit into curiosity. "What?"

With an inaudible sigh, Heero repeated, "I contacted him for the information."

Was she supposed to feel flattered? Part of Relena wanted to take off into all the possibilities that Heero Yuy truly did care for her, deeper than just because she was the peace keeper, but the rational part of her screamed that the calls had been out of habit so he could still protect her, be in her life someway.

In a way, it irritated Relena. One day, eight years ago, Heero up and walked out of Relena's life without a word to her. Yet, he seemed to have the nerve, the self given _privilege_, to still force himself into her life without her knowing it.

"Bastard," Relena grumbled.

Heero's eyes widened a fraction as his head snapped around toward the Vice Foreign Minister, he had never once heard her swear, much less call him a 'bastard'. This was all so strange to him and he did not know if he was ready to deal with this kind of change.

"I'm twenty-eight Heero, I do cuss sometimes like anyone else," Relena pointed out with a hint of a smile crossing her lips.

"What about this 'David'?" Heero inquired.

_What about David?_ Relena mentally retorted. _I don't need to tell him anything about David or anything else for that matter. He was the one who left…_ For all her reasons why she should continue to be bitter toward the man, Relena found that she could not.

Perhaps it was the need to show him that she had no hurt feelings from him leaving, despite the fact that she _was_ still bitter. Maybe she was too tired to really let her feelings influence her choice in giving information or not. Yet, she still did not see why she should give out information about David Willington II to Heero Yuy.

"_No matter how adverse you may be to giving out information to this man, you must Relena. This man will be in charge of your safety until further notice. Understand?"_ Lady Une had told Relena all of this before she had left and now Ms. Darlian was beginning to regret having accepted to such terms.

"David Willington II is my Head of Security," Relena shrugged, still a bit disappointed in herself for giving up so easily. "I've known him since the sixth grade, he had a crush on me at one point, and…you met him so why do I have to tell you anything!"

One of Heero's eyebrows twitched for a moment as he tried to place the name to anything from his memory. It was sometimes a challenge to keep names, events, and faces together especially when Heero did not know the name of everyone he had ever met. He should have known this David Willington II yet he just could not place him, the name was starting to sound familiar.

Noticing that there was no nod of confirmation from her bodyguard, Relena decided to fill Heero in. Although, she had to admit, that a part of her was enjoying the fact that he could not recall David or where they had met.

"The year was After Colony 195 and it was your second day at St. Gabriel Institution, my birthday in fact. You had ripped up my invitation the day before and during your fencing class the instructor had paired you with a blond boy," Relena explained.

A small smirk was creeping onto Heero's features as the events of that day were becoming clearer to him. Ah…yes, he remembered that blond idiot trying to play the 'hero' by defending Relena while fencing. Heero recalled how he got the idiot to shut up.

"Tell me sooner next time, I'll give it to you instead of ripping it up," Heero muttered, more to himself.

"What?" asked Relena, raising an eyebrow as she looked at Heero while wondering if he had gone mad for a moment.

Realizing what he had said, Heero quickly recovered himself, "Nothing. So, that blond was David Willington." His charge nodded. "He doesn't seem the type to become a Preventer, never did."

"Well he is and he's damn good at it too. He's done some maturing over the years and I must say that he looks, physically, nothing like what he did during the war." Then Relena added as an afterthought, "Except for the fact that he still has blue eyes and blond hair, of course."

"This is the man you had Maxwell reassigned for," Heero stated rather than inquired.

Sensing the underlining question of 'why' in Heero's words, Relena felt that she should detail that whole situation.

"Three years ago, Lady Une had decided to reassign Duo to make room for David as my Head of Security as Duo was not meeting Une's expectations, nor yours I imagine. Duo wasn't having any of it, kept saying how you had entrusted him with my safety, thank you by the way." Heero resisted the urge to roll his eyes, Maxwell talked too much. "So, Une had me try to come up with a compromise with Duo and we came to terms. Une says I demoted Duo and I say that Une had him demoted before I ever did anything."

In the short distance, Heero could make out the outline of his house, all dark except for one light, the kitchen light. He did not feel the need to point the house out to Relena; after all she would figure it out on her own when they roll up the driveway.

"So, what's with the name, Miles Davidson? Where did that come from?" the politician questioned. The sleepiness was getting to her terribly now, she was now talking to stay awake.

Heero noticed it because even though her questions might have held some importance her tone was one of complete disinterest. Normally Relena was interested in hearing any and everything someone had to say and it showed in her voice, but now that she was so tired she was no longer interested.

"I borrowed it from two different people."

With her head leaning against the window, Relena felt her eyelids begin to unconsciously close. At least they were until she realized that Heero had answered her question. She shook herself awake and pushed her head off the window.

"The whole name or just parts?" She tried to stifle a yawn as she spoke but it was difficult.

"Parts."

Sleepily, Relena nodded as she rubbed her eyes. What was it about riding in cars that made her so sleepy? There had to be something because she was finding herself gradually drifting to sleep against her will.

"Don't fall asleep, we're here," Heero informed Relena as he drove up the drive and shut off his truck. "Be quiet when inside."

"Why? You have guests over or something?" She meant it to be taken as a joke, especially since this was Heero Yuy she was speaking with and he was not exactly a social butterfly. However, since he had not cast her his trademark glare from across the hood of the car, Relena got the feeling that she might have hit upon something. "Roommates? Or should I say housemates?"

With the duffle bag in one hand, Heero looked up at his two story house then back down at Relena before crossing in front of the truck. "Yeah."

"Oh…" Relena mouthed. "Do they know that I'm going to be staying here?"

"Sort of. Come on."

Leading the way to the back door, Heero unlocked the door with his house key and entered as silently as possible with Relena in tow. The room Relena entered was the lit kitchen. However, she did not have time to take in the surroundings as Heero quickly relocked the door and led her through the dark house to a room where she was to stay.

Flipping on the light, Relena saw that the room she was to be staying in was furnished more as a recreation room with a computer, piano, a few music stands in one corner, a small dresser in another corner, and a futon. So, this was to be her room.

"We don't have the guest room quite done with yet, so you'll have to stay in here for a while," Heero told her, dropping the duffle bag on top of the dresser. "Bathroom's the first door on your right."

"Thank you," Relena muttered as she ran a hand across the piano. _Musicians…nice._

Not saying anything Heero made his way to door and paused for a moment as he suspected Relena might have something more to say. She normally did, from his experience. When she did not say anything he crossed the threshold, ready to go upstairs to his bed.

"Heero," Relena whispered, stopping him in his tracks just outside the door. "I haven't forgotten that you left without giving a reason. I would like to know that reason, sometime during my stay."

"Hn," Heero grunted, at least she was the one to break down and bring the subject up instead of him. "Night Relena."

"Good night…_cousin_."

**Thank you to: KyLewin, kay jolyn, Lynn-Minmay, Carol Nawali (Sorry this story is mine), Hououza, Morrighan of Crimson and Sable, Keeroshu, bee3, Mini Nicka, The hero of time 2005, gundamgirl818, DogDemonK9 (I agree that they need to put spell check on the review option, I need it when I review), Reignashii, heaven'sgirl, NamelessHeretic, and just love anime.**

**You know, I'm serious when I say this, this is the most reviews I've ever received for a fic that has only six (well now seven) chapters. I'm a bit beside myself right now. So…THANK YOU ALL! You guys are awesome**


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